Roasted dumb duck with prunes and pine nuts

To speak of Penedès cuisine is to speak of the mute duck — an indigenous variety without quartz — which, for decades, has been the star piece of family days and celebrations. The classic recipe presents it slowly roasted in the oven, washed down with a generous splash of cava brut nature to promote caramelization and stuffed with dried plums that are rehydrated with the same cooking juice. The pine nuts, added half cooked, provide the toasted and unctuous point that balances the sweetness of the fruit.
The secret is patience: first the duck is sealed in the pan with a minimum saute of garlic and onion, flamed with brandy from the region and, once transferred to the roaster, it is given a couple of hours at low temperature. The natural fat of the bird and the sugar of the plums create a dense, bright sauce that is tied at the last moment with a pinch of dark chocolate — an inheritance of the local chocolate tradition.
This dish, which appears on all the menus of Sant Sadurní restaurants for Christmas and the Festa Major, is usually paired with a cava gran reserva brut nature or with a Xarel·lo crianza from the DO Penedès. Many families accompany it with turnips from the region or with a potato and apple timbal. For visitors, to taste it is to understand why the cuisine of the vineyard combines bird protein with sweet notes and the freshness of the sparkling wine so well.

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